long time to pay her debts. >> we want to see "game of thrones" northridge edition. jane wells, thank you very much. thanks for watching "street signs," everybody. by the way, the queen of the show is back on monday. mandy will be returning from australia. there you go, as queen of the dragons on qantas. "closing bell" is next. have a great weekend. hi, everybody. happy friday to you. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm plmaria bartiromo. we're looking at a sea of red today, although it's well off the worst levels of the day. >> i'm bill griffeth. that weak employment report is what led to the big sell-off first thing this morning. as maria said, we're off the lows. and as you know, anything is

possible this final hour of trade. i'm not going to say anything, but you never know. we're about a hundred points, a little less than a hundred points off the lows of the day. so let's talk about the economic data, its impact on the markets, in today's "closing bell" exchange with dan greenhouse, cnbc contributor, heather hughes from sun american funds, our own steve liesman, and rick santelli. steve liesman, i'll start with you. a gain of only 88,000. and some people are attributing this to the sequester. how does that work? >> well, most of the commentary i read, bill, that does so, it talks about it creating uncertainty, because most of the effects of the sequester haven't really hit yet. there was only a decline of 7,000 in government jobs, although a big decline in postal workers, which i think was related to other problems the federal government is having, other issues out there. if anything, bill, i thought the bigger governmental impact probably came from the payroll tax hikes, where you saw retailers off by -- retail employment off by 24,000. that was a pretty big hit.

and maybe, also, the uncertainty of what's happened in the euro zone during the month. then, again, bill, i will tell you what's really interesting that's going on, we have a lot of upward revisions to first quarter gdp. and i'm wondering if this weak number might be revised upward to go along with the much stronger growth it looks like we're going to clock in the quarter. >> heather, how do you see this in terms of the impacts on stock? >> yes, maria, it is interesting, as we noted over the past six months, we've been averaged 150,000 to 200,000 jobs per month. this 88,000 number is very worrisome. it fails to include the half a million workers last month, 500,000, that were just discounted from this number, because they're discouraged workers. i mean, i don't know how you cannot count them as part of the unemployment data at 7.6% now, which really unemployment, we're hearing, may be closer to around 12. >> what do we mean we don't

count them? >> so when you have -- the government deems, let's say, look, my cousin works for a truck company and he gets laid off, so he's now pounding the pavement, looking at pinskey, he's looking to go elsewhere. and you know what, he can't get a job. so he plays a game of the price is right and says, look, we're going to sit around right now, collect a check from the government, and let's just go fishing. and now, how can you say he's not unemployed? he is unemployed, but the government is say that he is now discouraged and he is no longer part of the employment pool. >> well, if i can just jump in very quickly here and say, that's not exactly right. if you're collecting a check, you're technically looking for work. so you would not be one of the 500,000 that fell out. >> that is one of the criteria of receiving that check, yes? >> yeah, no. i mean, for everyone -- >> that's the point you're trying to make. i know you're being a little

disingenuous with asking heather on that question, because you know we all know the answer to that question. let me advance the ball a little bit and here and get back to the markets and ask you, dan greenhouse, whether you think this economic report this morning is enough to push this market toward the long-awaited correction that we've all been talking about the last few months. >> well, listen, we're focusing too much, to some degree, on the s&p 500 here. if you look at a number of other indices, from small caps, midcaps, transports, home builders, semis, to a lesser degree, commodities. you've had a correction of, let's say, 3 to 7% in a lot of these sub indices. and the s&p 500 itself has been really held up under the weight of two va of, to varying degrees, the health care sector. this might be part of a larger story about a spring swoon that steve and rick talk about, obviously, all the time. we have seen, whether it was the ism manufacturing number, the ism nonmanufacturing number, a number of indices have weakened. and if earnings season starts off slow, you could get that

correction. >> so, just one point, going back to, i guess we're saying we're not including these 500,000 workers that were discounted in that number. but you look at, what's china's gdp or what's china's unemployment. the answer is, it's a rhetorical question. it's whatever they say it is. it's whatever they deem it is. and getting back to the markets -- >> how do you know there's 500,000 workers unemployed? you know there's 500,000 unemployed because the government counts them. they count them, they don't include it in the unemployment rate, because they're not, technically, available for work because they're discouraged. but we know that number, it's factored in by the market. we can dispense with the notion the government doesn't count them. >> okay, true, but don't you think that that data is a huge disappointment? isn't it worrisome when 200,000 is what we were expecting? >> absolutely. there are major issues out there with people being discouraged. but the notion that the government doesn't count it is the one that i'm -- >> okay. >> the notion that this is the sequester is also really sketchy. i don't think so at all.

rick santelli, apparently, the sequester impact is going to have a much deeper force later on, so in the next couple of months. that's still coming. >> you know what, i don't buy it. sorry, waste that one on me. $45 billion in this fiscal year. fit does that much damage, or the 2% we should have never lowered the payroll tax, because if you don't pay now, you're going to pay later. if you withhold contributions in an area of entitlements that's taking the country down. whether it's deserved or promised, hey, i'm an accounting perspective on this one. and don't go after heather, she's right! you could fit all the people that aren't considered unemployed in ft. knox and you wouldn't have nearly enough room from the 500,000 on the last month. the reality is that we added 13,000, i believe, on construction, so housing's a positive. and everything else demonstrates the economy is a long way from healed, no matter what level the fed has pushed stocks to. >> so as i try to pull us out of

the weeds here for just a second. hey, rick, how much lower do you think the yields could go on the treasury? i mean, we're almost at year's lows right now. for 2013. >> 138's the low, all-time closing yield in tense. so we're basically, what, 30 basis points above that right now. if i was a trader like the old days, i would definitely be looking to take some of my longs off the table, that hopefully i would have set when conventional wisdom was 2.25 was the next stop. >> and dan, what do you think this unemployment report tells you? >> look, this is something that we've been worrying about, that everybody's been worrying about for a while, whether the seasonality that seems to arise in the data come march, april, may has an effect on the data this year and by extension, stock prices. there are a lot of people, contemporaries of mine who say, no, there's a reason not to have a spring swoon this year. i don't necessarily disagree with that. but i think, again, you're

starting to see some weakness emerge here. and given how powerful the rally has been, although not at a record-setting rally by any means, but given how powerful the rally has been, this along with cyprus and a number of other reasons might be an excuse to just pause for the next month. >> maria, can i make one quick point? >> real quick. >> not clear whether or not the data shows how weak the economy is, this is one month. average job growth over a three-month period is still $170,000. there are some reasons to worry, but i wouldn't be writing off the economy just yet. they are still subject to revisions and i think there's still a market out there. and whether or not growth continues or we have some weakness. >> a very important point. >> you don't want to look at everything based on one month. thanks, everybody. appreciate it. we want to get to pisani here. we want to get a check on the stocks that are really driving this market lower. even though, bob, we are down more than 170 and we're down just about 80 points right here. how do you see it?

>> if this is a spring swoon, it's been pretty modest. take a look at the dow jones industrials. the bottom line is we had heavy selling at the open, but it stopped after about 10:00. the volume right now is actually on the moderate side. take a look at the sectors that are weak today. it's a broken record, folks. for two weeks, i've been putting out the same weak sectors, all the cyclical names, financials, materials, industrial names. that's what's been moving the market lower. take a look at the sectors that are weak, for the week. it's the same ones that are weak today, the same ones that have been weak for the last two weeks. the stock market has actually been very prescient. i don't want to say clairvoyant, but prescient, anticipatory of the weakness we've seen in the economic numbers today. financials, industrials, tech, all on the weak side. peek under the hood a little deeper and you'll see airlines, big market leaders have been up big this quarter, like airlines and home building stocks, semiconductor stops, gold stocks, no surprise that we've seen outflows from the gld for a while. and oil service for the first time in a while, that was a notably weak group this week.

where we had heavy volume this week, maria and bill, is in the bond funds. bond etfs. look at the tlt. this is the long-term bond etfs. yesterday has huge volumes, twice normal, and the bond rush back on this week. guys, back to you. >> big-time. that's for sure, bob. thanks very much. well, this week's stock market sell-off is nothing compared to the plunge in commodity prices that we have seen. >> especially gold. >> gold, corn, oil. sharon epperson is at the nymex with details. sharon? >> let's start with energy. we're looking at what this weak jobs data means for energy demand. that's a big reason why we're seeing such a slide here in oil prices. in fact, we're looking at brent here that's near lows of the session. and, in fact, for the week, we're seeing big losses in brent crude and u.s. oil futures and in gasoline. that might be the silver lining. because that should mean that prices at the pump should start to come down. we did see a big move in the gold prices today as well. gold had been at a ten-month low

just yesterday, and today it's up more than 25 bucks and bounce definitely related to the fact that some traders believe maybe we'll see some more stimulus coming out of this weak jobs data, the fact that the economy is still so weak in the jobs front. and keep your eye on what's happening, though, in the natural gas arena. that's going to be a big story going forward to next week, because we did get that report from goldman sachs today, where they raised their price forecast for the second half of 2013 to $4.50 for natural gas. we're talking about the cold weather, the fact that we're looking at the storage levels we've seen here that are so low for march, for this time of year. that's a reason why they say we're going to see higher natural gas prices. we also get a report today about the rig counts for natural gas being at a 14-year low. that was a significant factor as well. big move there in natural gas on this friday. back to you, maria. >> sharon, thank you so much. we're in the final stretch for the week. about 50 minutes before the closing bell sounds. off of the lows. down 83 points on the dow jones industrial average, come back from a sell-off of 170 earlier. >> back to jobs, and

unemployment, this is easily the most spinable report the government puts out. spin it either way. but the big question is what, exactly, the companies need to see before they start hiring again. one of our next guests says, getting the government out of the way is a good first step. we'll look at that, coming up. >> also, stocks and bonds certainly telling a different story in recent months. so which one has it right. we're going to debate stocks versus bonds, coming up. >> and president obama is ready to cut entitle spendmement spen exchange for tax increases. the always outspoken white house adviser, gene sperling, is shrugging off fears that more tax hikes could hold back the economy. it's maria and gene sperling, one on one, coming up, pay-per-view on the "closing bell." stay tuned. the american dream is of a better future, a confident retirement. those dreams have taken a beating lately. but no way we're going to let them die. ♪ ameriprise advisors can help keep your dreams alive

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just putting news on the labor front with u.s. businesses adding only 88,000 jobs, less than half from what was expected. we were looking for about 200,000, which is what we got pretty much in february and in january. one company, though, is bucking that trend. bennigan's is rebuilding its

brand and expanding restaurant both here and abroad, creating 400 jobs for the country just for that one company. >> and bennigan ceo is with us right now. gentleman, good to have you on the program. >> thank you so much for joining us. paul, here you have a situation where small businesses feeling like it's under pressure, and you are actually expanding. how do you see it? >> well, first, i have to give a little background. bennigan's about five years ago went into chapter 7, which is game over. we not only looked into the abyss, we jumped in and bought a condominium. so now we have climbed back out, so we're kind of used to adversity. and we're going to persevere despite of what's going on in the administration, the tough getting financing, rising taxes, and now this. so we continue to reinvent ourselves, which i think is the key to any good restauranteur.

>> so you're not feeling the pressure that others are? >> well, of course we are. but you need to be a little forward thinking and think three or four moves ahead to anticipate what the consumer wants, because it's a lot more sophisticated today than it was 25 years ago. >> and you looked at barry when you used that one word, the f-word, financing. that's really what it comes down to, barry, especially for small businesses, they're finding more difficult after the financial crisis of '08 and '09 to get that financing, aren't they? >> they certainly are. we lend money to businesses in all 50 states. community banks, they're just not really putting the funds out. >> that why they're not hiring, then? they're not in growth mode, are they? they're just kind of holding their own here. >> small businesses are hoping if they have existing debt with financial institutions, they can refi it out. we've provided that service to many, but their growth expectations are very muted. they can't get financing to enable them to grow their business. >> what is it going to take you, paul, to pick up the hiring? i know you've hired about

workers in the past six months, do you look for incentives? what are the big things the that will move the needle in terms of you picking up your hiring? >> access to financing is number one. number two is a little help from the administration. every time we turn around, there's rising taxes and finish the commodity pricing that's still very, you know, inconsistent. >> what can the administration do with the commodity prices, though? >> it was two separate ones. >> i got it. so, again, we're looking at the challenges, as everybody else is, and some people are persevering and reinventing themselves and going above and beyond. but also those working with in our case, we have a franchise organization. we work with our franchisees and collectively put the intelligence capital against plotting a new strategy, implementing new programs and initiatives, so that we are constantly looking at different ways to present ourselves to the public. >> we keep hearing there's too much paperwork, there's too much bureaucracy, that companies have to go through, when it comes to

either getting the financing or whatever else it is, you know, meeting environmental concerns that a restaurant may face these days. do those hamper efforts to grow and by implication create more jobs? >> yes. look, it's -- every day it seem to be a new challenge. and unless you're thinking three or four moves ahead, those kinds of different challenges do stymie growth. people are reticent to invest now. people are waiting on the sidelines of today's news, didn't help the situation at all. >> but what are they waiting for? are there things out there that you think, barry, that the administration could be doing? is there a middle ground that government and business can come together, to actually alleviate some of these pressures on small business? >> i think the most important things that our independent business owners want to see, they want to see a reduction in the size of government in washington. i think what recently happened over in europe, particularly with the situation with cyprus banks and confiscation of assets, very, very scary for independent business owners. they want free markets, they

want to know that their hard work and success is going to be rewarded. they don't want government in health care, they don't want government regulating their businesses and taking their opportunity away >> it's not just small business, though. let's face it, we talk all the time about corporations that are sitting on all this cash that's sitting out there. and they're not putting it to work. we've had a number of ceos that say, i'm not putting it to work, what environment are they working for? >> they're waiting for an environment where they believe their money is going to be able to go into the market and it's going to be rewarded, where the government is not going to crowd out the private sector. where the government is going to reduce its influence. this government debt has got to be paid back by taxpayers, whether it's corporate tax or syringe tax. >> has the obama care expense hurt your prospects? >> just the idea of it have hurt some prospects, because nobody ly how it's all going to shake out. so what's going to happen, unfortunately, again, in our

view is some of the leadership in our industry's view is that instead of adding more full-time and part-time workers, more people are going to be on a part-time basis. so that doesn't add jobs. that actually subtracts jobs. >> that's a tough thing. gentleman, thank you so much. great conversation. appreciate your time today. see you soon. heading toward the close. 40 minutes left here. holding our own. the dow was down 170 at the low this morning, now it's down 88 points. >> it was interesting to hear what mike moby has said about the sell-off. he's not concerned about today's sell-off. >> we've already seen a very significant bull market, but this is just the beginning, as far as i'm concerned. >> coming up, we'll talk about whether this is a great opportunity to buy on the dip or the start of a larger sell-off. >> that's the question. also, technology stocks have been a huge laggard this year, not just right now. up next, we'll find out whether it's time to jump back into that beaten-down sector. stay tuned. ♪

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well, this market is off the lows of the day, following that weak jobs report out this morning, but the nasdaq has been the worst-performing index on wall street this week, by a mile. let's get to seema mody, she's got the story behind that. >> you said it, maria. weak economic data weighing on sectors like tech this week, and that's the reason we're seeing the nasdaq underperform the major indices. f-5 networks, hands-down, the biggest loser after it slashed its q2 outlook. that warning sending others

lower as well. teradata. the current weak macro environment is weighing on i.t. spending and delaying large projects. and i'm curious to see whether that factor will weigh on tech earnings in q1. back to you. >> we'll know soon enough. seema, thanks very much. so is the tech sector a buy on weakness right now? let's take a closer look at the index that tracks the technicals. and it's our friend joe greco with meridian equity partners, on the fundamental side, steve cortez, founder of vera cruz and a cnbc contributor. joe, i noticed on twitter you're going to say here, you're not real bullish on this market right now, are you? >> you know,ing t ing ththe bea started to have a little picnic with the technology space and the triple qs is entering into that phase right now. you can see it's clearly forming what i like to all or what everyone likes to call the right

shoulder of the head and shoulder pattern. you've already seen, obviously, the left and the head over the course of 2012, and clearly we've started to and we've topped out and we're starting to break down, not only through the 50-day average, but we'll head right down the sleeve of that shoulder. >> steve, were you bullish? did we just change your mind? >> no, you did not. i am bearish on tech here. and i think it's significant to look not just today and this weak, is tech underperforming. if you bought tech a year ago, if you bought the qs, you are now down money. and during that time, if you bought the s&p, you're up 10% in price, and in addition to that, you're collecting significant dividends. and i think that really is the key here. this market rally has been all about places where you can get a reasonably safe dividend yield. and because of that, things like utilities and health care have been the leaders. tech, in general, is dividend bereft. most tech companies do not pay dividends or pay very paltry one. i'll continue to look toward healthy dividends and avoid tech, going forward.

>> i'll agree with that for the next few months, but i think the picnic the bears are having is actually going to reverse. for the last three years, you can see right around the midpoint, the end of the second quarter, all of a sudden, there seems to be interest. you know, the triple qs consolidate just about the 50 and 200-day moving average and it spikes up right after. i think in the third quarter, you want to be involved in the triple qs and ride it into year end. i'm bullish for triple qs. >> joe, i recognize those seasonals that have worked in recent years, but i think this year will be different and i think it's because of the international scene. we're seeing tech capex spending in the international markets has declined extremely fast. i think it's the main reason why two weeks ago, we saw a significant gap down in oracle. oracle gapped down again today. when a company as big and broad of oracle tells us companies are not investing in tech capex, i think you have to take notice. >> great stuff, guys. always glad to hear from both of you. see you later. have a good weekend.

>> let's get a lack ook at the movers and shakers today. josh lipton? >> let's take a look at tech, your worst-performi ining secto. and it's f-5 networks that's really taking a beating. f-5 predicted second quarter results below what the analysts were looking for. brokerages reacting. citi, piper, william blair, all downgrades f-5. other network gear makers falling as well. juniper and cisco also low perp guys, back to you. >> all right, josh. thank you very much. we're in the final stretch here for the day and for the week. a market that's down about 91 point s on the dow jones industrial average. s&p down as well. >> i know what you're thinking. will you be kicking yourself in a few week ifs you did not buy stocks during this sell-off? we'll talk about that, coming up next. >> it's a good question. and will ongoing job market weakness prompt the fed to continue the economic stimulus indefinitely? what that could mean for your money. stay with us. back on the "closing bell" in a minute. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 when i'm trading, i'm totally focused.

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welcome back. you may not know it from the numbers, but this market has been trying to stage a comeback. the market sinking coming out of

the gate, following that very disappointing unemployment report we've saw, but we're well off of the day with declines of about 95 points, after being down nearly 170 on those numbers this morning. >> so has today's downturn created a buying opportunity? i've said it. let's ask our guest, stephanie link, from the street, and lee grohsen. >> still trading above a rising 50 and 200-day moving average. we've seen gross sectors continue to perform well. >> so you'd buy this dip? >> i would. i think there are definitely stocks out there you'd continue to see good momentum from. >> and i know, stephanie, you're also bullish on this market for the most part, right? >> i am. i think you want to be selective on what you're doing on these down days. >> what would be the red flag? what is the point in this market cycle that you would say, okay, you know what, maybe valuations are beginning to get a bit stretched? >> you have to look at the economic data, right?

and this week, it was kind of crumby, across the board. but it still supports about 2% gdp. if those numbers start to really decelerate, and mainly in the growth drivers of the economy, the housing that we've seen, we've seen a recovery, right? manufacturing, it's selective, but u.s. commercial construction still very much on the rise, and that's positive, too. and the consumer, consumer has held in, even though everyone's nervous about it. especially with oil prices coming down. so i think those are the underpinnings of the 2% gdp. so that changes, my thoughts start to change. >> now we get a report card starting next week. earnings start to come out. that's usually a volatile period, anyway. isn't the market vulnerable at these levels, as those reports start coming out? >> especially since it's not going to be great. >> i think certain sectors definitely are. you look at the retail sector, which guidance numbers last quarter were not good. they were taken down. we've seen estimates come down significantly over the course of the quarter. the payroll tax holiday cut into the retail numbers, significantly, and i think

you're going to see some of those stocks like whole foods continue to get smacked around. i think there's definitely sectors you want to be involved in, although this summer could get kind of rough. >> what do you make of some of the deterioration that we've seen out there. you look at the materials, crushed. you look at the commodities, crushed. iron, copper, gold, what do these tell us? >> i think there are some opportunities, particularly in the high-quality industrials and some of the high-quality materials, like a freeport, what it's telling us that the global growth is slowing. and that's clearly the data points we've gotten. europe has kind of decelerated from stabilization. china has kind of stopped accelerating from their lows. but the u.s. has actually stayed, hung in there. and i say 2% is nothing to be so excited about, but it's the best of all the worlds at this point. i think you want to be selective. but find a conocophillips. >> you know, i asked, one of the

technicians i was talking to this week, bill, said to me, energy is over. the trade in energy, look at what has gone on in the charts, he just wants to avoid energy. i just wonder what -- >> and i would say, if you're going to be in energy, try to find the high-quality names, where there's good dividend yield support. >> i was going to say, one of the best-performing groups this year has been the dog this year, utilities. they're back. people are going for the yield. i know you guys are traders, but would you trade that game right now? >> i go back to the energy game, and i actually like the kind of plays outside of directly associated to price of oil or natural gas. i like the service names, like geo space technologies, which is playing on the big boom in fracking and natural gas, but isn't necessarily levered to that price. >> but if oil stays above $75, all of these companies print money, right? so capex budgets continue to go higher. >> but the oil's been a momentum play. a lot of people are going to get out of those stocks, just because the momentum has slowed.

don't you think? >> they might. but this is a group that lagged all of last year, and actually has also lagged this year. so there is some value there. you don't have to be overweight the sector, but there's certainly some great bargains. >> thanks very much. appreciate it. >> heading toward the close. we've got 25 minutes left in the trading session, down 90 points on the industrial average. >> we are, indeed. the market has had an historic rally, recently, but the ten-year bond yield now at the lowest level of the year. who has it right, stock or bond investors? we'll take a look, next. and also, despite a disappointing employment report out this morning, jim cramer is not hitting the panic yet. >> macy's was at a high yesterday, there's a lot of companies, mcdonald's -- there's a lot of retail that's doing pretty darn well. now, do you sell all of those because of the employment number? >> find out which stocks are hitting new highs and lows today, which we'll talk about when we come back.

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a lot of big market moves this week, obviously. joining us to break down what they mean, ben willis from albert freed. and you know, not every stock has been down today. retail, a few retailers hit highs today. >> and i think that's analogous of the whole market. the retail investor has been holding this market up and the retailers go back to that guy by the name of, who founded magellan fund -- >> peter lynch. >> why what you know. if you drive through paramus, new jersey, tomorrow, you'll see why retail stocks are buying the way they are. >> so retail did well. but what other areas are you actually seeing some consistency from buyers? >> how about utilities? they're hitting new highs. >> utilities, new highs. that to me is the retail investor coming out of or not sending money into the bond funds. not necessarily the rotation, speak, but the money they have been sending into bond funds,

they appear to be sending into utility funds. >> but is that building sandbags waiting for another correction? when you go to a defensive sector like utilities? >> no, evening it's buy again, going back to the lynch theory. you buy what you know. that's a comfortable area for the retail investor to look in. the flip side of that, the pros looking for a correction, look what's happening in the semiconductors. >> technology really getting crushed. why semis? in terms of the valuation, where they're coming from, is that one of the issues? or -- >> yes. they had a pretty good performance, as far as the tech area goes, but it broke some technical levels, you know, mark from grable made the comments. you're seeing some pressure. those are the high-beta areas the professionals will trade in. you're seeing pressure there, yet the hardware that hewlett-packard, one of the better perform -- a good performer in the dow, apple, of course, and the hardware is still seeing some benefits, but the semis are pretty ugly. >> health care, by far, the best-perform sector in the first quarter, again this week, some of the best performers we've seen, to the upside. >> they had a great quarter this

week. >> yes, they did. >> if you count what happened out of washington, a great little play. i'm sure our congressmen are upset they don't have insider trading anymore. it would have been a great play for them. but that was, again, a demonstration of what can happen with a little bit of information. >> do you think that stays? would you buy them here in the health care names? >> again, yeah, i think for a long-term play, at this point, i think the market's looking for a correction, but i don't think buying equities right now is bad. i think you can buy them cheaper a little bit later on. >> you're expecting further declines? >> before we let you go, look at the market. we're down 56 now. here we go. you're still a believer in this market. >> i'm still a believer long-term. i still would love to see a correction, though. i think it's only good for the health of the market, because the higher we go in a situation like this, the downdrafts that we will see eventually are not going to be pretty. >> but you go the buy on the dip mentality. you see it from your customers, right? >> absolutely. 1% down on the major indices, and you see these literally look like retail algorithms. td ameritrade told us a week or so ago, they see their customers

stepping in, buying facebook, buying apple every time they see a dip. >> we had a guest on yesterday that made the point, we're not going to see a full-blown correction, we've already been going through a rolling correction. for example, just this week, hewlett-packard, which has been the best-performing dow component this year, is the worst-performing stock this week. >> right, but they have an ugly story behind them, with their management shake up and all that's going on there. they don't know whether they're a software company or hardware company at this point. their balance sheet, their revenues are a third of their debt holdings. so there's a lot to go with the hewlett story. i think hewlett benefited from the fact that they're the rising tide of the dow. >> do you think it keeps going lower? sell into it or buy it? >> i wouldn't buy it. >> all right, thank you so much. we have breaking news right now. we have some news on best buy. courtney reagan has the details. >> maria, yesterday we found out that best buy was selling the ipad 3 for 30% off and i started hearing some rumblings today that many people weren't able to find them anywhere, either online or in stores. so we reached out to best buy and best buy basically said it's

possible that these items are sold out online and in many stores. apple is no longer putting ipad 3s into production, so once they're gone, they're gone. best buy says we still carry the ipad minis, the 2, and the ipad with retina. so i don't know if the sale was that good and they're already sold out, but if you do go to the website, it does say, quote, not available for that product that we call the ipad 3. >> court, thank you. we're in the final stretch of trading for the day, for the week. we've got a market that is coming back, man, from the dead. down 56 points on the dow jones industrial average, after having been down 170 earlier today on the weak jobs numbers. >> we have 15 minutes, we have plenty of time. plenty of time. stephanie link coming back with us, says investors need to be very selective when buying on dips like today. find out where she's finding value, straight ahead. >> also, president obama says he'll unveil a budget, a budget?! yeah, a budget next week that will cut entitlements in exchange for more tax increases. but will republicans really go

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all right. here's the story.

we've got 13 minutes left. if the dow were to come back to a decline of 27 points, we would be even for the week. >> amazing. it's headed that way. look at this market. we're down 44 right now. back with us, we've got stephanie link from the street. let's talk about it along with david darst of morgan stanley wealth management. can we come back? what do you think? >> i think we could, over time. >> it's impressive, though, what has happened today, right? >> well, it's clearly that there's obviously people looking to buy the dips. over the last couple of weeks, we've heard people say, expect a 2% to 5% correction. so we finally get kind of a 2% correction, so it's not that surprising. >> david, do you want to be putting new money to work here, or not? >> health care, maria. buy health care. pfizer, abbott, johnson, that's 16, 17, 18% up this year. they can still run. you want to go health care and you want to go industrials. these are these u.s. global gorillas. you want to get exposure to the growth inside the united states and outside -- >> even though manufacturing jobs declined in this country in march, surprisingly?

>> bill, why have the prop market doubled? profits have doubled. why have they doubled? interest rates have been low, labor costs have been low, and the dollar's been low. we think we may be entering a multi-year period of dollar strength, so you want to take that into account. mexico and japan are doing structural reform. it's going to motivate the united states. mark my words, the united states is going to copy them, if even mexico, since 1927, they've had oil nationalized. they're going to let farmers in there. and if even japan, which has been a nightmare for 23 years, can change things, the united states is going to do things and we're going to blow them away. >> and mexico's an enormous story, i agree with you. a lot of money moving into mexico. we've been talking about that since the beginning of the year where we had the mexico tennessee finance ministen finance minister on. >> it's interesting to point out that caterpillar was in the green most of the day. the stock is down quite a bit.

a lot of the industrials have been hit hard over the last few weeks. >> if caterpillar, fedex with, the disaster that's happening in some of these metals, like iron ore, like copper, like gold, is that a function of the global economic story -- >> sure. >> -- or is it just a function of those companies? >> well, it's a little bit of both, right? because you had some miscalculation from caterpillar last year about inventories in china. so they're getting penalized, certainly. but look at some of the u.s. commercial construction names. look at uri, look at hertz, look at an eaton. these companies have actually done pretty well in the face of this global kind of slowdown. and so on those pullbacks, when they pull back like they have this week and the last couple of weeks, those the runs you want to be on. >> and the energy story, maria, another group that we've talked about, schlumberger, baker, halliburton, you want to own these. mexico can't get to the oil or the oil shale without these companies. and the same with the united states. you won't believe this. mexico actually aborts natural gas from the united states, even though they have tons of it. >> let me come back to the here

and now for a moment. this market is on fire. you have to be impressed with what's going on here. down 41 points on the dow jones industrial average, having come back from a sell-off of 140 points, a day before the earnings parade begins next week, when we know the earnings are going to be just okay, 0.6% growth or something. >> are we too complacent here, kids. >> expectations are really low. and as we talked about before, the pillars of growth, of the 2% growth that we're seeing, those stories remain very much in tact. that's housing and that's some of these selective industrials that we talk to some of these selective manufacturing names, and again, consumer. and i think if those change materially, and if those companies come out and say really negative things, well, then, we'd have to reassess. but right now that's where the growth is. >> housing, energy, and the resurgence of manufacturing.

h-e-r, listen to her and stephanie. >> we'll take a short break and we've got the closing countdown, moments away from the end of the day. stay with us. >> and after the bell, we've got the names of three stocks you need to watch when earnings season does kick off next week. >> and the season always kicks off with alcoa. klaus kleinfeld will break down the results on monday. that's 4:00 p.m. on monday as we get set for the first quarter earnings report seasoning. back in a moment, you're watching the "closing bell," first in business, cnbc.

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coming up on the five-minute mark. you'd be fun to see trivial pursuits in the market with. the dow, for the week, if it's down 27 points a to the close, or less, what happens? >> come on! we're going to end positive. so, right now we're down 44, right? so we've come back after that decline of 170 points on the opening this morning. what mark index was down 2% this morning and has come back today? >> i would say that would be the transports. >> there you go. that's another one she's got, ladies and gentlemen. strength for the big -- big turnarounds for the dow today. what, boeing? >> boeing, yeah. boeing's -- >> what are the transports? down 2% on the open this morning and it's come all the way back. up 0.5%.

>> and you're seeing a similar situation for the market overall. here we are, on the floor, with a pair of cnbc market contributors. we've got peter costa with us as well as warren myers. good to see you, guys. thanks for being here. are you surprised by this turn of events at the close here? >> you know i've been a little positive lately and talking about the underlying strength in the marketplace. they had every opportunity, the bears, to really knock this market down. they trieded this morning, unsuccessful to hold it on the lows. and held by the transportations and the large cap index, the dow industrials. this market's really coming up strong. >> i'm going to play the resident skeptic, peter. how many more dips can we buy? >> you can buy as many as -- >> ask me when the fed is finished. >> when the fed's finished, there's going to be your biggest dip. but you buy every dip you can. and i don't think there's anything wrong with buying on a dip. >> job growth in march was horrible. nowhere near -- i mean, so we're nod trading on fundamentals? >> the job growth down, what's that tell you?

the fed's going to continue their policy for even farther than the eye can see, and i thought you could see it pretty far already. >> you can say, yes, the fed's going to continue the quantitative easing program, because imagine what it would be like if we didn't have any quantitative easing, right? but on the other side, look at the job growth we're not getting with all the quantitative easing we've had. >> and earnings next week, we know they're not going to be great, the fundamental, sort of shaky. >> i know everything you're saying. >> hold you have to be a little bit -- >> i'm on the other side here. i'm on the other side of that trade. >> but by the same token, where else can you put your money right now? everybody and everything is forcing you into the equity market, in particular, in the u.s. equity market right now. and it's hard to fight that trend. >> let me ask you this. something that's been bothering me a lot. when you look at what's going on in commodities. when you look at how gold is getting crushed, when you look at copper, iron ore, all of these economically, sort of known as indicators, really, they're getting crushed. what does that tell you and does that mean avoid them or would

you see value? would you see any bottoms fishing in of that? >> you wouldn't see bottom fishing in commodities, because that's the nature of investing in those items. there's a lot of bottom fishing. there's always the speculative part. >> but there's not right now. >> there isn't any right now. that also goes in reverse. when they find weakness, the 10% of that that's speculation is out of it. that's already forcing it to a certain level. just, you know, naturally from getting the speculators out. so i think that, you know, with the economy and with the -- around the world, we've still got some room to go on the downside, but i think there'll be a point where that's going to find a bottom, also. >> we are six points away from the dow being neutral for the week. we've gone a whole hour here, and we haven't even talked about north korea. >> and thank goodness about that. >> should we be talking about north korea? >> that is a wild card, obviously. >> but you're not worried? as a trader, are you worried? >> under normal circumstances,

with what's going on over there, what trader would want to go into a weekend long this market? >> the trader that's gone into every weekend for the last four months long and been successful. that's the trader. >> so you do this until it's not a successful trade anymore? >> more or less, yes. >> that's not a bad idea. i'm not afraid of the korean situation, because i think that just like a lot of the other, these small conflagrations around the world, they have a very small impact short-term. long-term, you know, you start to look at everything long-term. i think, short-term, we would have, no matter what happens over there, there could be a -- it could be a major situation short-term for the u.s. markets. but i think, going forward, to me, that's the ultimate. >> i've got to jump. i'm going to be getting ready for the next hour. >> better hurry. >> we've got gene sperling. don't miss gene sperling. and also, i'm going to talk about leadership. tri bye, guys! >> maria, maria. doesn't look like we're going to do